


Solace

by GallicGalaxy



Series: Little Whispers (Post-asylum Oneshots) [2]
Category: Outlast (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eddie Has Nightmares, Eddie needs snuggles, Headcanons Everywhere, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Sex, M/M, Post-Asylum AU, Rape/Non-con Elements, Scared Eddie, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 06:17:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4908529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GallicGalaxy/pseuds/GallicGalaxy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eddie wakes Waylon up at like 4 in the morning because he's scared and needs to be held.<br/>(Semi-sequel to Love, Love, Love)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Solace

**Author's Note:**

> OnlySnakesCanLove requested some Eddie/Waylon fluff  
> Nobody cries in this one and it ends happier than it starts so this is probably as fluffy as I get rn  
> I actually went on a bit further with this, but it got sort of aimless after a point so I cut it off. If I get requests I might finish off the excess fluff and maybe add it as a second chapter.  
> At some point this basically just becomes a headcanon of mine but hey, I'll still share it with the world. And I absolutely love Waylon comforting Eddie, and I probably will forever tbh  
> Contains references to and (very brief, vague) minor descriptions of rape/non-con (as it happened in a nightmare)

Waylon awoke to a knock on his door.

When he first opened his eyes, he glanced at the digital clock on his nightstand. It was 3:43 in the morning; who could be knocking at this hour? Though, honestly, in this place, it shouldn't have been that much of a surprise. Waylon still wondered if he'd actually heard it, or if it had just been some residual element from whatever dream he'd been having. He'd be able to tell if it happened again.

And it did. A few short, erratic raps against the static wood of his bedroom door. It was a desperate sort of knock, but surprisingly quiet. Fearful, almost, rather than aggressive.

After a few seconds of tense silence, Waylon got out of bed and headed for the door. It was better to answer it now, he decided.

It was Eddie. He was standing in Waylon's unlit doorway in his underwear, a nameless flavor of distant, sorrowful horror clouding over his ice-blue eyes. Every muscle in his body was trembling as a collective, and he was almost doubled-over from the overwhelming strain of having to control his quivering self.

Waylon was downright taken aback initially. He had no idea how to react to seeing someone as powerful and normally steady as Eddie in such a state of weakness.

“Waylon...” Eddie pleaded breathlessly, laying his head against Waylon's chest in a manner that almost made it look like he wasn't in control of his actions.

“Eddie? What's wrong?” Waylon asked nervously. Having been shocked awake, his mind was rushing with a constant, chaotic stream of possibilities. Was there something out there that Waylon should be afraid of? Had Eddie killed someone? Had someone else killed someone?

He could feel how madly Eddie was trembling, and it seemed...wrong. It seemed like someone that sturdily-built and generally immense shouldn't have been able to lose control of their body so completely, and that nothing should have been able to frighten them enough to get them to that point. Waylon managed to half-carry Eddie into his room enough to close the door behind him, since he thought it was better for Eddie's sake that he wasn't left standing in the hallway mostly naked. At this point, Eddie seemed slightly more able to support himself, not having to lean completely against Waylon.

“What happened?” Waylon murmured, still urgent but less panicked.

“I just had a...a nightmare.” Eddie stammered, breathing heavily and raggedly, still clinging to Waylon.

“Well, come on. Lie down.” Waylon offered. He stroked Eddie's shoulders, unsure of what to do, and gently guided him towards the bed.

Eddie collapsed onto Waylon's bed beside him. Waylon let Eddie settle in as close as he needed to, his hands grasping aimlessly at Waylon's nightshirt, his body still shaking madly. Waylon ran a hand across Eddie's sleek hair, repeating the gesture several times while calmly murmuring “ _Shhh, shhh..._ ”

Eddie's eyes were slightly wet, indicating that whatever he'd seen in his dreams had brought him to the verge of tears. “It's okay.” Waylon whispered. “It's okay, Eddie. You're okay.” Eddie breathed a long, uneven sigh, and continued to twist the fabric of Waylon's nightshirt in-between his fingers.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Waylon asked tentatively. He wasn't Eddie's therapist. He wasn't even a nurse. But he was a willing enough ear. He hadn't the heart to refuse someone in such a pathetic state. “It usually helps.”

“Y-Yes.” Eddie shivered. He was shaking sporadically, almost more violently now, but that was actually a good sign. It meant that the initial spike of maddening adrenaline was wearing off, and Eddie was on his way down. “J-Just give me a m-minute...” He requested, breathing deeply in an attempt to calm himself down. He made a tiny motion with his head that Waylon interpreted as a nod.

Waylon resumed calmly stroking Eddie's hair, murmuring reassuring words peppered with affectionate pet names, which he hoped would help calm Eddie. “You'll be alright, you'll be alright.” Waylon whispered, pressing his nose into Eddie's hair. “Nothing's gonna hurt you.” He added, albeit cautiously.

Eddie knew he was alright at this point. Waylon was just trying to help him calm himself to the point where he could speak coherently. Waylom had a moment of realizing how odd it was that, when Eddie had woken up in such a state of panic, he'd run immediately to Waylon, without even so much as summoning his nurse.

“Th-thank you.” Eddie stuttered, breathing heavily against Waylon's chest. He kept moving his trembling hands in a restless manner, like he needed constant confirmation that Waylon was still there. Waylon stayed patiently still, as Eddie just sat there, quivering violently and pathetically, for what felt like an hour.

Eventually, after rubbing his face, sighing irregularly, and grabbing at Waylon's nightshirt for nearly a slow, unsteady eternity, Eddie held his eyes open, staring at nothing, and breathed regularly.

“You okay?” Waylon asked delicately. Obviously, he wasn't okay.

“Better.” Eddie answered hoarsely. “I, I just...” He breathed deeply and rubbed the side of his face again. “I just had a nightmare. I can almost...still feel it. Like it was real.” Waylon knew the pain of vivid nightmares, but his had very seldom managed to bring on an attack to the degree of the one Eddie had just experienced.

“What was it about?” Waylon prompted, still running his fingertips through some stray wisps of hair.

“Rape.”

Eddie delivered his reply on a single, hasty, unceremonious note, flicking his pupils downwards and fixing his eyes on Waylon's buttons. Waylon could not think of anything quite appropriate to say at first. Every reply he considered seemed somehow belittling. He just slowed his idle patting of Eddie's hair to a complete stop.

“Do you want me to go on?” Eddie rasped, still staring down the pattern on Waylon's nightshirt.

“If you want to. I won't make you, if you're not comfortable with it.”

“It was pretty vague.” Eddie declared. “Yet, at the same time, incredibly vivid. I never saw his face. I couldn't tell you who he was, or anything about him, except that he was bigger than me. And no matter what I did, he was stronger than me. My joints just... _locked_. I could hardly move.” His eyes started to glaze over as he recounted what details he remembered, his voice getting weaker once again. “And it hurt. It hurt more than a dream should be able to...” His voice wavered, and his eyes slid closed, hand covering the side of his face once again.

“N-No matter what I did. I kept trying to...to fight. I knew I was strong enough, but he was always...j-just that much stronger.” Eddie's breath came in uneven gasps, almost sobs. “And I tried to say something, I tried to scream, but he...he shoved his hand in my mouth, not even over it. I bit down and he didn't let go.”

Waylon started caressing Eddie's hair once again, very slowly at first, trying to give him a semblance of comfort. “I-I couldn't do...anything. I was so afraid.” He shook his head at nothing, trying to keep himself from crying. “I was so afraid. And all I felt was pain. Just...endless pain.”

After a moment of tense silence, Waylon spoke up. “Well, do you know why you'd have a nightmare like this? What triggered it?” Eddie finally looked up at Waylon's face, or maybe past him at the curtains.

“I think it might have been because...we...” He began, clearing his throat awkwardly. Waylon felt his heart lurch at the mere suggestion of that memory.

“But, you weren't...” Waylon started to murmur.

“I think it's just the premise of the thing.” Eddie stated, leaning his head against Waylon's chest. Waylon tensed up when he felt it, somehow frightened by this gesture, but after a moment he relaxed. For Eddie's sake.

“I think...” Eddie began, choking on whatever he was going to say next. “For years, I thought...” He sighed at his own inability to speak. “I thought it was wrong.” He admitted inelegantly. “Beyond wrong.”

“Rape?” Waylon squeaked in confusion. “Or are you just referring to...homosexuality in general?”

“No, no, not rape.” Eddie almost chuckled. “I know that rape is wrong. But...I thought that they went hand-in-hand, rape and...homosexuality. I thought they might as well have been equal. If a man ever wanted me, he only wanted to rape me.” Eddie nuzzled his face into Waylon's chest, having relaxed a little. Waylon could feel himself start to blush, but with only a pang of guilt he brought his arm around Eddie's shoulders and started caressing his shoulder instead of his hair. It was now less of a calming gesture and more of an affectionate gesture.

“I thought it was wrong. I shut it out. Tried not to even think about it, because the only thing I could associate with it was...pain. Rape.” Eddie blinked slowly. With his head cradled against Waylon's chest, he looked so...soft. So weak. Waylon let himself lie down all the way, tucking Eddie's head under his chin. “And I...I spent my whole life not feeling attracted to women. Thinking they were all just...worthless whores, because I never wanted them. And I thought I was supposed to. I was supposed to want to have sex with women, to want to keep relationships with them. But I didn't.”

Waylon looked down at Eddie with widening eyes. He shouldn't have been so surprised, but he was certain this was turning into a confession.

“I started to blame them. I shouldn't have.” Eddie whispered, with some sort of powerful resignation in his voice. “It was my fault. I was a homosexual. I didn't have any control over it, but it was so far repressed in my mind that it was...unimaginable.”

It was a confession. A tiny, hopeful confession. A sweet, intimate, hushed confession of everything Eddie had feared and kept down for so many years. Waylon felt almost...honored. Flattered. Waylon purred softly, closing his eyes and pressing his face into Eddie's hair, breathing in his warm, musky smell. “Hmm, I've been thinking about it for a while now...” Eddie murmured, sounding oddly pleased. “But I think that you helped me admit it.”

Waylon pulled his face from Eddie's hair, staring down at his half-closed eyes. “I love you.” Eddie breathed softly, almost guiltily, like he knew he shouldn't have said it.

“I...I love you too.” Waylon replied, smiling slightly. He wasn't even thinking about it, just saying it. But right then, at least, it was okay. It was alright to love him.

Waylon couldn't tell Eddie that it was okay to love him, and then tell himself that it wasn't okay. Waylon breathed deeply, a bit raggedly.

He could see how much Eddie had changed. How much more aware he had become. How fragile he really was. He didn't want to hurt Waylon. That man in the asylum wasn't him, or at least it wasn't who he was meant to be.

Eddie was still figuring out who he was.

Eddie pulled himself up a little and kissed Waylon on the nose, grinning like a smitten schoolgirl. Waylon wound his fingers through Eddie's, taking hold of his strong, powerful hand. He laughed to himself at how dainty his hands seemed compared to Eddie's.

“Look how big your hands are!” Waylon giggled, unfolding their connected hands and laying his fingers flat against Eddie's. Of course Eddie was aware of how large his own hands were.

“Look at how small yours are.” Eddie purred in response. After a moment, he pulled their hands together again, laying their arms flat against Waylon's sheets. “Thank you for...all that.” Eddie declared after a moment of silence. “For comforting me. I-I'm sorry I woke you...” He rambled, twitching his fingers restlessly.

“Are you going to leave?” Waylon inquired, eyebrows raised curiously. “You know you can stay here if you want to. You still look a little shaken.”

“I still feel a little shaken.” Eddie conceded, smiling a little. “But I should probably go back to sleep.”

“Then sleep here.” Waylon offered.

“I...I just didn't want to...make you uncomfortable.” Eddie mumbled bashfully.

“It's alright.” Waylon assured him, softly stroking Eddie's hand with his thumb. “And if you have another nightmare, I'll be here. I'll take good care care of you.”

“Hmm, I won't have another nightmare.” Eddie replied with a high degree of certainty. “I won't have nightmares because of you, because I won't be afraid anymore.”

Waylon pressed their foreheads together and kissed Eddie timidly. “And neither will I.” He proclaimed with equal certainty. For better or for worse, he wouldn't be so afraid anymore.

 


End file.
